The Impact of Internet Experience and Attitude on Student Preference for Blended Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate student experience with the Internet, and their attitudes towards using it, inan attempt to determine the impact of these experiences and attitudes on their view of the implementation of blendedlearning. Data from 142 Saudi students at a leading university in Saudi Arabia were collected via an onlinequestionnaire. The results reveal that students have both experience with and positive attitudes towards using theInternet. Demographic variables had no effect on these attitudes, but experience variables showed significant effects.Interestingly, there were mixed interactions regarding student study year; negatively with Internet experience andpositively with preference for the implementation of blended learning. Neither experience with the Internet norprogram of study appeared to influence student preference for blended learning but age, study year, and attitudestowards the Internet were associated with positive attitudes towards blended learning. Importantly, students in thepresent study supported the implementation of blended learning, but not entirely online learning. Student attitudestowards the Internet in general appeared to influence their attitude to learning approaches that use the Internet inblended learning environments. Discussion of these results is presented with suggested implications.